Share Your Story

Give

Activate Your Church

Pregnant?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETuesday | February 23, 2016Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and MarketingThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

COLUMBUS, OH - Less than two months into the calendar year, 2016 is shaping up to be a major marker in Heartbeat International’s history. The network is welcoming its 2,000th affiliated pregnancy help organization and celebrating the 13th anniversary of its 24-7 pregnancy helpline, Option Line.

Called into existence by local pregnancy centers in 1971 as the first-ever network of pregnancy help, Heartbeat International’s 2,000th affiliate is First Choice Pregnancy Center, a medical center offering free ultrasound scanning, STI testing, pregnancy testing and more in Weatherford, Oklahoma, home of Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

The center’s executive director, Kathy Gibson, whose journey to pro-life work began shortly after she experienced an abortion, attended Heartbeat International’s Pregnancy Help Institute in Dec. 2015, along with her executive assistant.

“In 20 years in this work, I have never experienced anything like it,” Gibson said of the Institute. “From there, joining Heartbeat International was a no-brainer. I feel like Heartbeat is in touch with who we are and where we are, and we love the personal touch that Heartbeat offers.”

Option Line (1-800-712-HELP; OptionLine.org) represents one of the central visions of Heartbeat International’s founding generation—comprised of pro-life ob-gyns and an unsung hero of the Holocaust—of a hotline connecting callers with help near them.

Since answering its first call in 2003, Option Line has responded to over 2.35 million contacts, including phone calls, live chats, texts and emails. The helpline answered over 243,000 contacts—650 every day—in 2015. Option Line also increased its web traffic in 2015 by launching a new iteration of OptionLine.org, and has expanded its capability of connecting contacts directly to local pregnancy help to over 500 locations.

Overall, Option Line refers to 2,250 pregnancy help organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“It’s incredible to think of the children who are becoming teenagers this year who may never have been if not for Option Line,” Bri Laycock, director of operations for Option Line, said. “We are convinced now more than ever that local pregnancy help is what makes the difference between life and abortion for so many mothers. That’s why our energies have always been—and will always remain—focused on connecting callers and website visitors to pregnancy help people near them.”

At 2,000 affiliate locations worldwide, including a presence on every inhabited continent, Heartbeat International continues to be the largest network of pregnancy help.

Hosting its 45th Annual Conference March 29-31 in Atlanta, Heartbeat International announced a leadership transition in early January, as Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., the organization’s president of 22 years, took on new responsibilities as Chairman of the Board, promoting longtime vice president Jor-El Godsey as only the second president in the 45-year history of the network.

Helping Affiliated Life-affirming Organizations (HALO)

As many areas of the world are recovering from hurricane damage, one thing is certain—women in those affected areas will still need the real support offered by the pregnancy help movement.

Life-affirming organizations are by no means immune to the damage caused by such natural disasters, and yet, they often become rallying points in their communities for aid in addition to their normal functions. Affected pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, non-profit adoption agencies, and abortion recovery programs will need prayer and financial support in the weeks and months to come.

Heartbeat International offers you a way to help, through our Helping Affiliated Life-Affirming Organizations (HALO) fund.

Heartbeat affiliates help each other in many ways, including through our own affiliates’ generous donations. Please consider giving to the HALO fund today, as we come alongside our friends who will struggle to rebuild in order to provide women with the compassionate support they need in order to choose life for their unborn children.

As always, keep an eye on your inbox and check PregnancyHelpNews.com for the most up to date information.

Unless pregnancy help organizations are there to set the standard for true compassion and support for women, someone else will—namely, Planned Parenthood.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Planned Parenthood arrived not with needed material aid, food and shelter, but with abortifacients, including the morning-after pill. Similarly, local Planned Parenthood clinics responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by offering free abortions, adding to New York City’s death toll in the city’s darkest hour.

Heartbeat collects information on organizations potentially in need so that we might be able to direct resources, if available. If you are aware of an Heartbeat affiliated organization in need of support, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with their information and situation.